“I feel more comfortable, and I’ve always said I feel more nervous when I’m further up, so essentially (I'm) less nervous because there is really only upside,” Patrick said. “There’s a chance that it could go really badly, but you know what, I’m just looking at the positive side of things.

“We have lots of ground we can make up and that can be a really fun day.”

Used to the spotlight, Patrick enjoyed her time back in North Carolina earlier this week but she wouldn’t have minded another media whirlwind like she had after winning the pole a year ago. The polesitter typically visits ESPN and other TV shows, adn she already had plenty of other media events scheduled last year as she prepared for her first full season in Cup.

“It’s been more calm,” said Patrick, who enters her third full-time season in NASCAR after making the transition from IndyCar. “I did go back to North Carolina (this week). There was a lot less to do, but I would much rather have a lot of media to do for all the right reasons than have a calm week.

“I’m not getting any younger so I might as well do it now.”

The 31-year-old Patrick also knows her success in NASCAR has been limited. Her only top-10 finish was eighth in the Daytona 500 last year. She finished 27th in the Cup standings.

"Sometimes the most fun you ever have in the car is when you really make a lot of ground up,” Patrick said. “Looking back to last year at some of the races when we came from behind, those were the ones that I remember, not the ones where we just hung out up front.”

Patrick then paused.

“It was only Daytona I did that, but anyway, we’ll make up some ground,” she said.

So obviously Patrick isn’t letting a Daytona 500 where her chances appear worse than a year ago impact her. She will have some help at the start of the race as teammate and boss Tony Stewart also is starting in the rear and teammate Kevin Harvick is starting 38th.

"The car is good in the pack,” Patrick said. “We’re probably not as strong as we were last year. I find it a little bit difficult when somebody isn’t behind me to pull up to the cars in front of me, where that wasn’t the case last year.

“Spoiler changes (with a taller one) have happened, but I have more experience and I think that will probably pay off in the long run, especially coming from where I have to come from.”

It appeared that Patrick has a good car but few were willing to work with her in the races earlier this week. She tried to make moves in her qualifying race but didn’t get enough help to make a move.

“I thought the pack was coming from behind and it was just going to push forward as that was where there was room to go,” Patrick said. “It just didn’t form up and it got more scattered than anything.

“It didn’t go. That’s part of when I try this, this happens, when I try that, that happens kind of thing that I learned. So I’ll know for next time.”

Patrick also believes she learned a great deal from her team last year that could benefit her Sunday.

“More than anything, we gel better as a team, we communicate more seamlessly and better and I think I’m starting to really find some strategies that seem to be working for me,” Patrick said.